Jazz Studies - Master of Music

Don Glanden
dglanden@uarts.edu
Chair, Graduate Jazz Studies
215-717-6353

The Master of Music in Jazz Studies degree has its roots in three decades of University of the Arts leadership in the field of jazz education, carefully balancing aesthetic goals and a pragmatic approach to vocational responsibility in the context of this American music idiom. Open to a small and highly advanced group of students who have an undergraduate degree in jazz studies or an undergraduate degree in music with significant experience in jazz and contemporary music, or the equivalent thereof, the program–while providing a solid foundation in contemporary music– encourages a primary focus on individual career goals.

Curriculum

Among the one-year, 32-credit program’s unique curricular components are advanced private instruction in the major area to develop professional-level artistry and skills; hands-on internships; ensemble performances; arranging, composing, transcribing and analyzing jazz and contemporary music; study of MIDI and music technology; music journalism, jazz pedagogy and a final thesis/project/recital that integrates in-depth research on a topic of special relevance with personal musical growth, culminating in a public performance. Graduate Applied Studies are the core of the Master of Music in Jazz Studies. Additionally, applied study at the graduate level includes a pedagogy component. Teaching is a facet of almost every performer’s and composer’s career; coursework in the major applied area acknowledges this importance.

Students, in addition to completion of the requisite 32 credits, must take or have taken two corequisite courses of two credit hours each: Recording and The Business of Music.